Interlocking Souls
by FairyRingsandWings
Summary: She had wanted to return his feelings, but how could she? How could she when she knew that somewhere out there another waited for him? Someone who shared the same golden bow and arrow mark etched upon his skin. A mark so different from her own. His soulmate was out there and it was not her. Carol discovers the truth about Yon-Rogg's soulmate mark. (Yonvers).


**(A/N) **A gift for AnonymousMink for the Yonvers Winter Time Gift Exchange 2019!

**Tags:** #Soulmates #Soulmates - Identifying Marks #Fluff #Misunderstandings #One-Shot #Yonverholiday2019 #Gift Fic

* * *

_I can't be with you, not like that._

The words hung over them like a miasma, unseen and poisonous. It weakened their rhythm, tainted their joy and disturbed the smoothness in which they interacted. They double guessed each other. Hesitated to engage in conversation and keeping it to the bare minimum. They stopped sparring. They avoided being in the same room for longer than necessary. They couldn't so much as look each other in the eye.

None of it was being done maliciously or out of spite. It was a natural reaction to what had occurred between them.

A confession under a lavender nebula.

A rejection under the stars.

Yon-Rogg was heartbroken, regret gnawing away at him. Carol's rejection had stung him in the most intimate of ways. He had let his guard down, allowed his heart to take reign and ride him into the unknown, conjuring the courage to say the words that had plagued his soul for the twelve years that they had known each other. Emotions were dangerous to him, they were a distraction and clouded the mind. He had been proven right in his fears. He had opened up to her only for her to turn him down. And now... now it was affecting both of them. It had damaged their relationship which in turn was jeopardising missions, two of the most important things to him.

Carol was hurting over the choice she felt compelled to make. She hadn't wanted to make it. She had wanted to return his feelings, to admit that she felt the same way. But how could she? How could she when she knew that somewhere out there another waited for him? Someone who shared the same golden bow and arrow mark etched upon his skin. A mark so different from the one on her back.

His soulmate was out there... and it was not her.

She had always thought she was lucky having a soulmate mark, it was a rare phenomenon that no one could explain. It made her feel special and happy knowing that somewhere out there, the galaxy had made someone who was perfect for her in every way, someone who could fulfil the longing that had always been there in her heart.

Now it just seemed like a curse, keeping her away from the one person she truly wanted and loved.

* * *

_"Carol, this isn't fair on either of you,"_ Maria chided.

Carol sighs, resting her head back against the wall. She is sitting on the floor, legs stretched out before her, a carton of tulu yoghurt on her lap. She stabs her spoon into the frozen dessert, the conversation killing her appetite. Maria's face and upper body float above the communicator sitting at Carol's side, her image sparkling and blue.

"I know that," Carol stressed. "But what else can I do?"

_"How about not hiding in the ventilation shafts for one thing."_

Carol laughs sharply, giving Maria and offended look.

"I'm not hiding. I was... repairing something."

_"With a spoon and bowl of whatever unhealthy thing it is that you're eating?" _

It wasn't _that_ unhealthy.

"This is my lunch break."

_"Carol!" _

"Okay, okay! I might be... avoiding him, but not hiding." Considering they were the only two people on the ship it was impossible for her to hide from him forever. The only reason she had pulled it of so well was because he was doing the same thing. "It's just... awkward now. I don't like it. It's never been this uncomfortable and that's saying something."

There had been plenty of reasons for them to share a difficult relationship.

And yet it had never been the case.

When Yon-Rogg had seen the Supreme Intelligence and the Kree Empire for what they truly were and joined her, even with her heart still bruised and bleeding from his betrayal, it had been easy to be around him. It had felt like a missing part of her had clicked back into place, the same way it had felt when she had been reunited with Maria and Monica. Back-stabbing and lies aside, they had shared a deep, loving friendship. He was as much a part of her as she was of him. As much as she would have denied it five years ago, nothing could change that. Even when they had been enemies there was still an easy flow to their banter and conversations, a comfort in being around each other. They were enemies not by desire but a force in circumstances.

Now, it was a different kind of hurt between them and like a wedge it was driving them apart more successful than any reckoning that had come before it.

_"Have you guys tried talking it out?" _

"I don't want to talk about it with him. I've hurt him enough and Yon has never been big on talking about feelings."

She could scarcely believe he had told her those infamous three words that could send a heart-soaring or shattering. Unfortunately for them, it was the latter.

_"You've hurt yourself too, Carol."_ Maria gave her a sympathetic look. _"If you love him and he loves you then there's no reason for you not to be together. You both want it."_

"But our soulmate marks-"

_"Don't matter. People with soulmate marks very rarely meet their soulmate and even when they do they don't always end up together. You can be with someone even if your marks don't match and still lead a happy life. You're robbing yourself of that, waiting for ghosts to show up. Talk to him."_

"I can't."

She could always talk to Yon about anything, but not this. It was too painful. She wanted both of them to forget his confession and her rejection. She wanted them to go back to the way things were. Working alongside each other, saving the galaxy, teasing and training and enjoying being with one another.

Talks of romance, soulmates and their identifying marks brought to much angst to her heart. It made her think that one day his or her soulmate would appear, that it would draw them away from each other, and the life they had - the life she had come to cherish - would end.

It was easier to ignore it.

* * *

Yon-Rogg hissed as he stretched his arm behind his back, trying and failing to clean the blaster shot that had grazed him. He was hidden away in his room, sitting before the viewscreen, the five ringed planet of H-983 dominating the view. It was an eerie mass of swirling greens and blues, the rings encircling it like a looped x.

They had come here on a mission to capture a spy supplying the titan Thanos with information on Resistance activities. It was a mission rife with difficulties. He and Carol had been lacking communication and trust. They had been too busy bickering and questioning the others plans that the suspect had managed to flee. It was a dire routine that they had fallen into the last few missions.

And it was all his fault.

He never should have confessed his feelings for Carol when they had visited her home planet. He never should have asked her to be his mate. He should have controlled his emotions, rather than acting like a love-sick pup.

But seeing her standing before the lake where they had first met, golden hair falling in soft waves around her face, blue eyes dark under the dim light of the moon and stars, he had found himself hopelessly and utterly spellbound.

The lake and the sky above it had been the start of their relationship. It was there he had shot her down from the clouds and killed Mar-Vel. It was there she had stood against him, brave and strong, willingly giving up her life to do what was right. It was there where he had stolen her. It was there where he began to lose grip of his heart, Vers - Carol - stealing it little by little with every quip, smile, defiance and kindness. It wasn't a place filled with cherishable moments. Their beginning was not an easy or admirable one. It was filled with pain, grief and deceit.

He had wanted to change that, to make the lakeside a place that meant something good to both of them.

He had been a romantic fool.

He had opened his heart to her, confessed his love and she had said no.

Since then their relationship had been strained. He wanted things to be how they once were. He hated that he had been the cause of the discomfort between them, something that was now heavily impacting their missions. They couldn't afford to let things carry on like this, there were too many lives at stake. Every year more planets fell to Thanos. Every day more people died by the titan's hand.

There was a knock on his door.

"Yon-Rogg, can I come in?"

"I'm busy," he shouts. Sometimes he wonders if she is hiding psychic powers from him, she always seems to appear when he dwells on her.

"Tending to your blaster wound by any chance?"

"I've mended it. It's fine."

It wasn't really. He just didn't want Carol anywhere near him. Her touch would undo him. Her eyes would see through him.

"Yon, I saw the blaster hit you. You can't tend to a wound on your back by yourself. Now let me in or so help me I will blast down this door."

Yon-Rogg sighs. He grabs his shirt and pulls it over his head as he walks over to the door and dials in the unlocking code. It swooshes open, revealing Carol in sweatpants and a t-shirt. The t-shirt is black with the image of a silver saucer and a green creature with large black eyes peeking out from behind it, waving. Carol's strange Terran casual wear.

"I'd rather not have to replace the door again," he mutters, crossing his arms. "But I'm also not letting you-"

She strikes as fast as Halaians viper, slamming the heel of her palm into his chest, knocking him back a few steps. Before he can recover his breath, she pushes him hard with both hands. He falls backwards onto the bed, his back throbs from the contact, making him cry out. Carol darts forward and straddles his waist.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way?"

His glower is an answer enough. She blows a strand of her hair from her face, a stubborn glint in her eyes. She attempts to remove his shirt, to see the wound more clearly. He tries to jostle her off his body but the ache in his back makes his movements sluggish and restricted. Carol snarls in irritation, a feeling he feels all too well coiling up inside him.

"Will you just let me check it and then we can both go back to ignoring each other," Carol snaps. She yanks his shirt off and tosses it aside then lets out a huff of frustration.

Yon-Rogg growls but nods his head in surrender. There would be no winning this round, not when she was so pent up and determined.

Carol moves off him, allowing him to sit on the edge of the bed, his legs planted on the floor. Carol inhales sharply, her fingers ghosting over his wound.

"This looks like it hurts."

"It hurts a lot more after getting shoved onto the bed and having your weight on top of me," Yon grumbles.

"If you had let me do what needs to be done in the first place, I wouldn't have had to resort to desperate measures. Let me go get some fresh water and bandages."

Carol fetches the materials then returns to kneeling on the bed behind him. She begins cleaning the wound, every stroke of the damp cloth stinging his back. Yon keeps his face passive despite the pain.

"I don't want things to be tense between us, Yon," Carol says quietly. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

He breathes in deeply, readying himself for the conversation to come. It is one they have been avoiding for too long.

"You didn't hurt me, Carol." It's a lie, but white lies cannot be avoided. He has caused her much pain and distress in the past, he doesn't wish to cause her anymore if he can avoid it. He wants their friendship to mend, for that, he would give anything. "I'm just... processing everything."

He would get over it, or at least, he would get better at controlling how he felt and he would re-learn how to mask his emotions. They couldn't let this carry on, for the sake of their friendship and their mission.

"I'm... processing it all too. It's kinda hard to do when we spend so much time together," Carol says. "We don't have that much space in this ship or on missions."

He nods.

It takes her a while to remove the charred flesh surrounding his wound. He keeps his eyes firmly on the ground, his hands clenched. He tries to fall into meditation, tries to ignore the gentleness of her touch and the contentment he feels being the centre of her attention. When she is finished his waist has a white bandage wrapped around it. Carol moves the basin and cleaning utensils to the side. He hears her sigh and wishes he could see her face.

"Yon... listen... I..."

Carol trails off, her breath shuddering.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

He is ready to face her when her hand touches just below his left shoulder. He tenses, knowing what she has seen. How could he have forgotten? After so many years of hiding it well.

"Is... is that your soulmate mark?"

* * *

Carol can't breathe. She can't think.

Her trembling fingers trace the lines of his mark. She had been so busy tending to his wound that she hadn't noticed it until now.

It was not a golden bow and arrow as Att-Lass had once told her after months of bullying him for the answer. When she had discovered the rumour that Yon-Rogg had a soulmate mark - a soul tether as the Kree called them - she had dared to hope against all odds that his mark was the same as hers, that they could be soulmates. She remembers how crushed she had been when Att-Lass caved and described it. He was wrong.

It was two silver stars interlocked.

Two silver stars... just like hers.

"Att-Lass said it was a bow and arrow," Carol mutters.

"It's nothing. It's just a scar."

"It's not a scar, it's a soulmate mark. A soul tether. How could you hide this from me? Why would you-"

"It doesn't matter," Yon-Rogg says firmly.

"Doesn't matter? How does this not matter?" Carol gasps, anger stirring inside her. Another secret. Another lie. Had Att-Lass lied to her about the mark because Yon-Rogg asked him to? Why? Why would he hide the fact that they were soulmates? She knew he had seen her mark, she was sure of it.

"I'm entitled to some privacy. This... This I wanted to keep to myself. Especially from you," Yon says, his voice stern, warning her to drop it.

"Why? This is-"

She makes a move to get off the bed but Yon-Rogg turns around and grabs her wrist. His golden eyes meet hers, staring at her intensely.

"Meaningless." He releases her wrist, his fingers sliding up to clasp with hers. He pulls her hand over his chest, above his heart. She can feel the steady beat against the warmth of his flesh. "I don't care what conspiring old God's have decided. I know you don't want to be my mate and that's... that's alright. I accept that. It's to be expected considering our history. But you're the only one that I love, the only one I will ever love. It's always going to be you, Carol. I don't need a matching soulmate mark to tell me that."

Carol narrows her eyes at him, confusion bright within them.

"You... you do that I have a soulmate mark... right?" she asks carefully.

It is Yon-Rogg's turn to look startled, his eyes dimming with unease. He breathes in sharply, his grip on her hands tightening without his consent.

"I didn't," he whispers.

"I thought you knew. I was so sure you saw me naked on Seekra. That time I fell in mud ditch and had to bathe in the river?"

Yon looked taken aback, offended by the notion. Defensively he says, "I was on the lookout to make sure no one disturbed you."

"And you didn't peek once?"

"You thought I would?" Actually, she had tried to entice him to look. "What do you take me for?"

"Immune to my charms, apparently," Carol muttered, quirking an eyebrow.

"We both know that's not true," Yon sighed, releasing her hand to rub the back of his neck. "Is your soul mark the reason why you never entrained any relationships on Hala?"

_Is it why you rejected me?_ Is the unspoken question.

"No. Yours was. Att-Lass told me you had a soul tether, that it was a golden bow and arrow." Carol looks away from him and towards the planet below. "I was worried that one day they might show up and you'd... leave. I didn't want that. I didn't want us to start something only for our soulmates to come between us."

"Carol, I don't care who my soulmate is. It's you I love, nothing will ever change that," Yon-Rogg said earnestly. He caught her chin between his fingers, tenderly making her face him. "That's why I never brought it up. It doesn't matter to me."

"I think I have something that can change your mind about that."

She pulled her top over her head, tossing it aside, revealing her black bra beneath with no shyness. She turned around, letting Yon see the mark on her shoulder.

His fingers were warm on her skin as he traced the mark.

"Two stars... Just like mine," Yon-Rogg mummers, his voice filled with awe. He lets out a laugh - a joyous thing that makes Carol's heart ache with warmth - before leaning down and kissing her mark. He wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "All this time, all those worries."

"Why did Att-Lass say it was a bow and arrow?"

"I didn't want anyone to know what it was, so I told him a lie when he asked. I never used to care who knew what it was until I met you."

Carol closes her eyes and leans back into him, her arms fastening around his, keeping them in place.

It almost made her want to laugh. She had avoided all romantic involvement with him, fearful that his soulmate would steal him away when it turns out it had always been him. He was her soulmate. He, on the other hand, had hidden his mark, refusing to acknowledge any other chance of love but her.

"Yon, you know I've always loved you too?"

She feels Yon-Rogg tense before he spins her around to look at him. He pushes her against the wall, his face close enough that she can feel his breath on her face and can see nothing but his golden eyes. There is something dark in them, something feral and possessive. His thighs are pressed against hers, their chests touching with every breath. She has not been this close to him since the last time they spared, several weeks ago. She had almost forgotten how much of an effect his nearness had on her, how it made her heart race and her lungs strain for air.

Yon-Rogg licks his lips, his eyes unable to leave her mouth.

"Say it again."

"I love you."

Yon-Rogg captures her lips in a bruising kiss, his hands holding her upper arms, keeping her steady. Carol coaxes Yon's mouth open and he complies, letting her deepen the kiss. It is a fierce kiss, fueled with over a decade of want. Carol moves her hands, wanting to caress his bare chest, to feel him in ways that she has never been able to before in anything other than heated dreams. Yon-Rogg growls and grabs her by the wrists, pinning them above her head with one hand.

_Tease_, she thinks with a smirk. She would just have to show him who the Captain of teasing was.

Carol moans when he moves his lips across her face, sprinkling them upon her cheeks, nose and forehead. She struggles against his grip, enjoying the way he smiles against her skin.

Without thinking, Carol tries to wrap her legs around his waist, wanting to bring him closer. Yon-Rogg hisses, his lips parting from hers with a pained gasp. He lets go of her wrists to steady himself against the wall. He grits his teeth, resting his head against her chest.

"Oh my god, I forgot about your wound!"

"It's fine, Carol," Yon-Rogg groans, lifting his head to look at her. "A few more kisses and I should be fine."

Carol gives him an amused scowl, shaking her head. She sighs, shoving him aside.

"You need to rest."

"I'd much rather continue what we were doing," Yon-Rogg protests, sounding breathless - she isn't sure if it's from their kisses or the pain from his wound.

She leads Yon back over to the bed and forces him to sit on down, his back propped up by a pillow. She gives him a flirtatious smile before slowly straddling his waist, her fingers tracing the muscles on his chest.

"Who says we were going to stop?" Carol smiled coyly.


End file.
